Anyone know any Verizon's "travel pass"?

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earlyre

earlyre

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Last summer, my mom was taking a trip with a friend from school who lives in Canada (Guelph, Ontario). I drove her up, and went back 10 days later to get her.
I made sure we both had travel pass activated, and enough money pre-loaded into our accounts to cover the daily costs.

Almost as soon as we were across the border, and out of range of US towers, we both had no signal, and could only make/receive calls when we connected to WiFi.

Is there a different SIM we needed to get?

It's not like we had super outdated phones... She's got an iPhone SE, and mine is a Pixel 2.....
 
I have Verizon and no problems in Canada. I didn't know you could make calls via wifi.
 
Been all over Europe with it - X per day gets you same as local plan.

Its a bargain.

UD
 
It's not like I was in some out of the way Hamlet... Windsor, then 3 hours up the 401 to Guelph...

The wifi calling has to be turned on in the phone's settings, but yes. It's great.

UncleDave, that's what I thought... Had that all set up....

Then a couple k's into Windsor, no signal...
 
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Windsor is extremely tough to get service in. I have Verizon from work with all the international bells & whistles because we have several customers north of the border. When I'm right on the river near Hiram Walker or the casino, I still get US Verizon service. If I stay at the Hampton about 1.5 miles down from the Ambassador Bridge and am on ground level, I get absolutely nothing. Then, by the time I am up 3-5 floors, I get Rogers or TELUS with max bars. Same thing with GPS (go figure that, it's supposed to be GLOBAL but Verizon won't let something work properly!!). The only time I've ever had consistent service in Canada on Verizon is when I can physically see the US across the Detroit River or across the lake...

I did get "barely serviceable" service when in Montreal, but it was all Rogers and TELUS there. When my phone would find a signal, it was WAY faster than Verizon here in the States, but a majority of the time I had to get my directions while on hotel wifi and then never close the navigation because it would never re-acquire. Don't know if this helps, but it confirms the last 2km before the US border is essentially "no-cell land" if you've got Verizon.
 
Used it in Australia a few years ago no problem. Even got a local prepaid sim on an old iPhone so I would have a local number. Both worked awesome!
 
Originally Posted by rubberchicken
I wonder if its a GSM vs CDMA issue ? Maybe if those phones are provided by Verizon, the GSM is disabled ? Just speculating.


non- issue any more, even more so after this fall...
cdma only applies up to 3g. The 4G standard is GSM based, that's why verizon suddenly started using sim cards when 4G phones came out.

also - Verizon is shutting down their CDMA network this fall.
they already stopped activating non-LTE phones last fall.

Canadian carriers shut down their CDMA networks back in 2016. That's why we upgraded her to the iPhone, so she wouldn't be out of contact...
 
This is all explained on Verizon's website. You type in where you are going-it gives you the details. Much better than BITOG. You should be able to make calls in Canada. Most phones have a setting that let's you makes calls on Wi-Fi (where available).
 
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Originally Posted by CKN
This is all explained on Verizon's website. You type in where you are going-it gives you the details. Much better than BITOG. You should be able to make calls in Canada. Most phones have a setting that let's you makes calls on Wi-Fi (where available).



I did all that before the trip(which was last summer) I was looking for anyone else who's had actual experience with the service to see if mine was a Fluke, or if i missed an obvious step somewhere, like go to the verizon store and get a "special" Sim...

[Sarcasm]
But thanks capt. obvious! You're right, instead of asking others who may have used a product or service about it, i should just read the company's website, and shut up. THANKS!
[/sarcasm]

I'm not going to my local store to ask this question, because I've personally had several experiences with them over the last couple years, and if your question isn't DIRECTLY related to them making a sale, they shut down. and Definitely don't go in there asking questions if you're a pre-paid customer!(I am, and yes they expanded travel pass to prepaid plans as well)
Prepaid customers are the scum of the earth not fit to lick their boots!
 
Originally Posted by earlyre
Originally Posted by rubberchicken
I wonder if its a GSM vs CDMA issue ? Maybe if those phones are provided by Verizon, the GSM is disabled ? Just speculating.


non- issue any more, even more so after this fall...
cdma only applies up to 3g. The 4G standard is GSM based, that's why verizon suddenly started using sim cards when 4G phones came out.

also - Verizon is shutting down their CDMA network this fall.
they already stopped activating non-LTE phones last fall.

Canadian carriers shut down their CDMA networks back in 2016. That's why we upgraded her to the iPhone, so she wouldn't be out of contact...


Right .... but... I was not familiar with your iPhone model so I was not sure if it was just CDMA, or dual, or triple band. Verizon was quite a bit behind in the initial rollout of 4g, so a lot of infrastructure was on 3g / CDMA / similar old stuff long after it ceased be relevant. Also, Wifi calling: all well and good if your within range of a wifi access point, but not much good in a moving vehicle or out of range of wifi. As for your original problem: did you have roaming disabled ? Or possibly your on a very old carrier firmware. Honestly I am stumped: if it was AT&T I could give you a few numbers and a few people to talk to and get an answer, but I have no resources outside of AT&T. Range, topography and signal shadows do not explain your problem. I think you would be best served calling Verizon customer service. Your take on going to a retail outlet is totally correct: they work on commision , and solving your problem has no commision unless they can talk you into a new phone.
 
There is no CDMA service in Canada - either you need a 4G LTE phone or a "world" phone with a GSM side(like an BlackBerry 8830/Torch/Storm). Call up Verizon or go to a Verizon CORPORATE store(not a dealer). I think Bell decommissioned CDMA between 2014-2016. Telus might have done the same.

I was in Canada years ago for a half-marathon, my personal T-Mobile and work AT&T phones had a few issues getting onto Bell and Rogers respectively, the T-Mobile one sent me a text saying Welcome to Canada! Don't worry, your T-Mobile phone will work as it does at home, enjoy! but between Blaine and Surrey, the phone was bouncing between T-Mobile and Bell. The AT&T one needed a power cycle to register itself to Rogers. Mexico is a different story, my T-Mobile one had to be rebooted to join Telcel and only at 3G, which barely worked outside of Tijuana and Rosarito.
 
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Originally Posted by nthach
There is no CDMA service in Canada - either you need a 4G LTE phone or a "world" phone with a GSM side(like an BlackBerry 8830/Torch/Storm). Call up Verizon or go to a Verizon CORPORATE store(not a dealer). I think Bell decommissioned CDMA between 2014-2016. Telus might have done the same.

I was in Canada years ago for a half-marathon, my personal T-Mobile and work AT&T phones had a few issues getting onto Bell and Rogers respectively, the T-Mobile one sent me a text saying Welcome to Canada! Don't worry, your T-Mobile phone will work as it does at home, enjoy! but between Blaine and Surrey, the phone was bouncing between T-Mobile and Bell. The AT&T one needed a power cycle to register itself to Rogers. Mexico is a different story, my T-Mobile one had to be rebooted to join Telcel and only at 3G, which barely worked outside of Tijuana and Rosarito.


correct. all the Canadian carriers discontinued cdma in 2016. (as previously stated by me, the OP)

that's a big chunk of why we upgraded her to the iPhone SE(Essentially the iPhone 5) it's a current 4G LTE smart phone.
My Phone is Pixel 2, Purchased directly from Google about 2 months Prior to said trip (which was last may)

my Local Verizon store IS a corporate store, and as I previously stated, they are only interested in sales. if you ask anything not sales related, they can't be bothered.

unfortunately around here the corporate stores are crap, to get good customer service you need to go to an "Authorized Retailer"
 
hmmm, and the obvious like the latest iOS is installed and the carrier settings are on the latest version?

I'm not sure how the Verizon/Sprint iPhones work and AT&T phones are locked down from carrier selection, there might be a setting to enable roaming in Settings > Cellular and under Cellular Data Options, there is an option for Data Roaming. There's a carrier-specific set of options, looking at my AT&T iPhone, I see Wi-Fi Calling, Calls on Other Devices, Carrier Services(which is useless) and SIM PIN. There might be an option for roaming or foreign network selection as well.

/edit, just found this: https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-206955/
 
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